Skinny Dipping (Shadowfang)

[Ana Sol Starris]

The Lake Spring 82nd, 512AV There was a slight breeze in the air and mildly cloudly out, the lake was cold and clear, calm ripples wavered with the wind. A small figure stood crouched, with her legs pulled into her chest and arms wrapped around her knees appearing nervous. The greasy blonde hair cryed for grooming, her skin smudged to heck seemed to silently scream for soap and water. The dark circles under her eyes gave her a somber expression, eyes furrowed in thought, resisting her needs for a bath. No one was around, or so it seemed to her, getting undressed would be as easy as a 1. 2. 3. with a jump in. Shivering at the thought, her shoulders hunched as images of underwater filtered through her vision, a tight, choking compression upon her chest. The struggles, flails, and screams for help that remained unheard in the liquid death hazard of the sea. The small figure shuddered violently, a bath was needed, if it had been like in the hotsprings back in Sunberth then maybe she would have gone in the cold lake without a problem. Mumbling, whisperish pleas and encouragement to get her undressed and into the water. Why was Ana so afraid of being in water? Obviously she must of had a bad experience with it one time, but otherwise she remembered zilch of what could have happened. Wrenmae hadn't unlocked all of her hidden memories and Ana had little way of triggering them, frankly it seemed to be a major problem for her. Only flashes of images flitted across her vision, the halucinations she had back in Kalilas apartment in Sunberth when the small thiefs health seemed to come to its climax. Of course, it had gone as quick as bad as it had come, but would continously plague her afterwards. Travelling seemed to have fixed up her health problems though, strange enough as is, on the road to the Spires she had mild health issues but otherwise nothing so severe as to when she was a child or when she had been living the last half of the season in Sunberth. Why did travelling to new places affect her health so much? What was the reason? The factors? Ana hadn't an idea of why, it was all a big mystery to her.. Just as her memories were. Oh, no, no, no, she was getting distracted! Ana had to get into the water! Grasping her head, and pressing in onto her skull with her palms in desperation. Ana had to do this. Had to. Forgoing a bath was no longer acceptable for the small thief, if she got this done and over with quickly then she wouldn't have to stay in the lake for a long period of time. The bath would be over with and there would be no need to fuss any longer, until next time she would need another one. With a exhasperated groan, Ana undressed in a blink of an eye and quickly waded in waist deep into the water, jumping out suddenly and kneeling with a squeel, violently her body shook, shivering. Still she wouldn't give up, she hopped back in as her skin fired alive in goosebumps and prickly skin at the sudden shock of cold water. Teeth chattered violently as she tried to regain her composure, it was cold, extremely petching cold for her. The difference between the climate here in the Spires and in Sunberth, was that around this time of the year, Sunberth was alot warmer and here in the Spires it seemed to be a tad colder than what she was use to. Though Syna shined in speckled waves as the clouds passed by lazily, they offered little respite from the frigid seeming air and the mind numbing lake water. "Okay, gotta get this done, out and over with," Ana muttered to herself and bent over to begin washing out her hair with a vengeance, shaking her fingers back and forth into her blonde locks in an attempt to get out the oils that had latched themselves onto the roots and body of her hair. Lifting her upper body up slightly, she cupped her hands into the water and splashed her face, rubbing it to and fro and repeating feverishly. The small girl inhaled, once, then twice and let out a sharp sneeze into her hands.. Giving a look of disgust, and a plain "eww" at the snot lodged into her hands she began to get the gunk off her nimble fingers and palms quickly in the lakes water, watching it float away into the depths from her. As Ana straightened up and began to rub her hands against her arms in a half-assed attempt to keep warm, it hadn't occurred to her that someone was watching as her back was turned from any onlookers veiw towards the beach.

[Shadowfang]

The blinding rays of the sun peeked through the leaves of the forest canopy. Shadowfang was thankful for the shade that the many trees provided and was almost tempted to join the effort to plant more. Almost, but not quite. He much preferred Leth's soft glow to Syna's burning glare, but he was forced to be awake during the day and sleep during the night while he was in the Spires. But for now, he was not worried about any of that. He was listening to his nose, following the overpowering smell of cool water. It was a smell that masked all others, so strongly in fact that Shadowfang was half convinced that there could be a bleeding animal right behind him and he would not notice it.

It had not been his idea to take a bath but Zandelia had suggested it, saying that cleaning himself off would mask the smell that he seemed to carry with him wherever he went. Plus, he would be more difficult for prey to detect while hunting. He had not noticed anything but a few people would scrunch their noses up at his coming. Then again, things like that tended to happen to people who spent two years without taking a bath. He stopped for a moment now that he was nearer to the lake and pushed his pants down to his ankles, stepped out of them, unwrapped the bandages around his arm, and threw them over his shoulder to bring them with him. It might be a good idea to wash them as well.

He put a hand up to block the bright light of the sun, and waited for his eyes to adjust as he walked onto the lake's shore. He looked down at the ground and squinted to protect his eyes and noticed something strange laying on the ground in front of his feet. Clothes. But who's clothes? He was still so blinded by the glaring light that he could not tell what colors they were.  

Achoo! A sneeze. His head snapped up to look towards the source of the noise, half ready to defend himself. There was someone there that he had not noticed before, standing waist deep in to water and swishing their hands around in the cool liquid. He looked down at the clothes again, then to the bare back in front of him and made the connection. It was Ana, apparently taking a bath at the same time that he had decided to. He had been to distracted to hear her, to blinded to see her, and the smell of the lake was too strong for him to pick up her scent. He wondered if he should leave and come back to take a bath later. 

Almost without his willing them to, his feet began to move and he took a first two steps into the lake. He shivered as the cold water splashed around his feet, soaking his fur and matting it against his body. He could not think of anything to do or say, so he simply stood in silence there to let his feet get used to to cold and stared at Ana's naked form.

[Ana Sol Starris]

First of all, Ana was shivering in the cold water, it was far too crisp for this season. Why didn't she just wait till summer? Secondly! She was far too prone to catch illness to be doing this.. So why.. WHY?! Sometimes she wondered if she had a brain inside her noggin. Oh if she had a mind of her own, what she would do! Ana thought to herself irritatedly, sarcastically. Still she continued to wash up, it wouldn't take long at all... Until she heard the foreign splashes. Freezing, quite litterally, Ana peeked over a tensed up shoulder at the newcomer, it was Shadowfang, the Zith. Though they were apart of the same group... Ana couldn't help but let out a choked scream of suprise, submerging herself into the water farther than what she wanted to. Now her upper half was covered in water, her arms around her and she shivered, realizing what a mistake that had been. But she held back every impulse to run out of the water, she couldn't, not with someone there as she was extremely insecure with her own body. Teeth chattering, she turned slowly to her side to get a better look at Shang and once again, realized what a mistake that had been. Her eyes went low, jerking them away with a darkening blush and plunged her face into the water. Inhaling the liquid through her nose, she choked and spluttered, coughing into a lifted hand as her throat burned. That was a stupid thing to do, but it had been such a sudden reaction. This wasn't a good time to be caught naked.. Not at all! Agh! Ana bashed at herself mentally as she brought a hand up to her eyes to cover them embarresedly. Refusing to even look at him "Sh-shang t-t-the h-hell y-ya doin ha-ha-h-here?" The small woman managed to sputter out panickedly, sniffing and shivering once more, far too cold, she could feel the coolness seep into her bones and causing them to ache. Oh man, oh man, oh man, what was she going to do... What was Ana going to do?! The question continued to echo in her mind deafeningly, peeking to the side towards the middle of the lake.. She could swim. No, no.. That wasn't an option, if she tried- what would happen? Could she really swim? Somehow the thought made her queesy, she wanted out of this water right now. RIGHT NOW. Shaking her head terrefied, no, Shadow would have to leave first in order for that to happen, she didn't like it when others looked at her body. Heck she refused to dress into night clothing any more, instead choosing to try and sleep in her day clothing. How was she going to escape this ordeal? Was there even a way? Ana would have to try.. Try.. Slowly another force began to wash in, ever so subtly into her demeanor.

[Shadowfang]

He could not help but raise an eyebrow at Ana's frantic floundering. It was as if she was wrestling with some unseen force that kept trying to dunk her under the water. He frowned as she sputtered and stuttered words at him that took him a moment to translate. He began moving towards her, slowly so he could get used to the cold water as it rose around his legs. "I am here to... bath." He made a face. That last word did not sound right but he knew of no other word for cleaning himself. He kept walking, pushing through the water towards her, but stopped while still a ways away. 

Curious. Why was she shivering so much? The water was not that cold. And why had she suddenly plunged herself mostly under the water, leaving only her head exposed to the air? He shrugged inwardly and gave up trying to figure her out. Perhaps she just wanted to wash the rest of her or perhaps it was just a human thing. Strange though... Ana did  not seem exactly fearful but she sort of reminded him of prey hiding from a predator. 

He stopped just out of arms reach of her and began to submerge, shivering as the cold water rose up around his body, until he was sitting on the lake bottom, still between Ana and the shore. Funny that, even though she was deeper in than him, where the water came up to Ana's neck, it also rose around Shadowfang's neck. Maybe she was not sitting like he was. He let his pants and bandages go so that they floated in the water next to him and dunked his head. Years of dirt, grime, mud, and, and blood that was caked into his fur floated off of him and drifted away in the lake. He scrubbed his face with his hands to help the process and resurfaced, then going about scrubbing the rest of his body, essentially brushing the dirt out of his fur. This went on for a moment until he hit a stumbling block. He could not quite reach the area between his wings on his back and a good portion of his wings themselves. 

A little frustrated, he glanced over at Ana, then got an idea. Quicker than he realized, he pushed himself through the water and made a grab at the human girl's wrist. He brought his face within mere inches of hers and asked a question. "Can you help?" Before he made any other movements, however; he sat there for a while and simply stared at her. There was something about this girl that he could not quite place, something that seemed to keep drawing him to her. She was certainly nothing to look at by human standards, but there was still something. He leaned over to place his nose on her wrist and sniffed deeply. Suddenly, he snapped himself out of his odd stupor, stood up, and turned around, taking care not to hit the tiny human girl with his wing. He crouched back down in the water and grabbed his now longer hair, pulling it out from between his wings and holding the raven locks against his chest, running his fingers through it in an attempt to clean it. He pointed a thumb towards his back. "Can you bath my back and wings?" He spread his wings out on either side of the woman behind him, unintentionally trapping her in a sort of cage. 

And the only way to escape it was swim further into the lake.

[Ana Sol Starris]

"Can you help?" He asked her, to Ana he didn't seem to quite fully realize how.. Awkward this was for her. The small thief shivered in the water even more, her senses sky rocketing above normal standards as every nerve began to numb down in the cold water. Fear filled her mind, she hadn't wanted to be this fully submerged in the water, it was far too close to her head for comfort. Shang was far too close for comfort, though he had stated he was here just to bathe and he seemed to be doing just that and now here he was asking for help in body hygeine. Taboo number two, number one, both colliding at the same time; water and touch, he wanted her to touch him to clean him. Oh wonderful, simply wonderful! Teeth chattered as she tried to formulate words, looking behind herself as she had to duck further into the water to avoid his wing, she jumped upwards to get the water away from her face once more "w-w-why?" She asked him nervously, fearfully, trying to back up and away from him only to realize she was going deeper into the water. Halting, she didn't know what to do, what he was going to do, what was going to happen?! He was family! He wouldn't hurt her.. Right? If it had been a totally different situation, she would have relaxed under that thought; in the water, both naked, her mind drifted as she stared at his back.. It was.. Grey, furrish grey. Then her eyes drooped to the water and felt as if she were about to fall backwards, in a sense, she did, her mouth moved on its own as her conscienceness fell out of control, her voice, possibly a note lower than what her regular voice was "whats in it for me Shadow? Will you promise you won't make a move on me if I do help you," she asked calmly, remaining submerged in the water. "Also will you let me see a claw," she requested, lightly, "I'm curious about them.." Sighing, she straightened up a bit and tilted her head to the side slightly as she examined his back, the wing apendages potruding from his body, perhaps it would be more of a benefit for her if she did get to wash his back and wings. It would be a much simpler process than when Shroud had done to him with the daggers to examine the Zith, keeping her arms crossed, she seemed to be more confident, she could handle this, she was no longer the weakly seeming prey, but the prey in disguise. Possibly this side of her had been seen once or twice, but not for very long, only in certain situations, times, reasons.

[Shadowfang]

"I cannot... reach." he said in answer to her strange question. Why else would he want her to wash his back? He could hear her breathing heavily and fidgeting behind him. She was a very twitchy girl, much like nervous prey in the prescence of a predator. "I will… bath your back?" was the only thing he could think of to give her for washing his own back. What did she mean by "make a move?" It took a second to figure out exactly what she meant. Honestly, the thought of confronting her about that had not occurred to him until she had mentioned it. He had come to take a bath and, due mostly to the Ziths' naturally unbreakable focus, bathing was the only thing he was thinking about. To answer that question, he simply gave a quick nod.

His claws? Why was she interested in his claws? In spite of his own almost blind trust in most of the members of the Crimson, he became a bit wary at her request. Suddenly she seemed much less timid and a bit more up front. He figured there was no harm in letting her see one of his claws. "You have to... bath my back first." 

There was a short pause and then he heard her moving through the water. Hands touched his back and began moving through his fur. He closed his eyes and just sat there and felt her hands. Up and down his back, across one wing, then the other. He was shivering, though not from the cold this time. The feeling of another being running their hands on his fur, as if he were being petted was one that he found that he enjoyed. If he could purr, he probably would have. 

When the hands left his body he sat there for a moment, just being still, almost wishing that they'd come back before turning around in the water and extending a soaked hand toward Ana. He extended it claws first and palm up, offering his claws to her so she could see them. He could not fathom why she wanted to examine them, but she had washed his back so a deal was a deal. He sat there in silence while she went about doing whatever it was she wanted with his claws and just stared at her, half paying attention to what she was doing, half just fixing her with an unbroken gaze.

[Ana Sol Starris]

Wash his back? The thief thought to herself somewhat exhasperatedly at the request, but then relaxed, realizing that he would be turned away from her and she wouldn't have to exactly worry about being seen. In fact, it was almost fun.. The girl slowly started from his back, to his shoulders, dipping her hands back into the water to splash his back more. She sniffed once, twice, he really did reak- how long had he gone without a bath anyways? Ana watched as grime and muck slowly faded into the water, other such substances she did not want to name, and felt she could gag at any moment. He really did need a bath. Her touch was light on areas, and she was focused on getting the dirt and other clingy substances off Shang, but underneath it all, she felt his fur, she felt the muscle underneath as well as the bones which held him together. Heck, she got closer to him just examine his back more, how the appendages worked, how his wings connected together inbetween his shoulders blades. Ana felt a tad embarresed over how she was feeling him up, but she couldn't help it, she was slowly becoming amazed over how his body felt. The fur itself was soft, and seemed to cling to the water- and it looked warm, she shivered. Could she morph his fur? As she travelled up his wings, the fur became much softer- velvetty even. It was of such a thin matierial, she was surprised such wings could hold a Zith of his size up. Did that mean he had light bones? Yet that didn't make sense... If he had light bones, would he be as big as he was now? Or smaller? Would that mean his bones were hollow in some sense? Like a birds? or of a lighter bone structure? Or perhaps the Zith were just very strong? Ana could only ponder as she washed him, her own curiousity growing over the Ziths physique. Her cheeks burned at her own thoughts. No wonder Shroud had wanted to feel Shadowfangs body up, but he could have done it gentler.. Like she was now. Stopping, she went to splash more water on him, but was instead greeted with his turning around face! The movement had seemed so sudden to her that she had to take a step or two backwards, bringing her arms to cover her chest , the feeling of slimy rocks underneath passed under her feet and as quick as it happened- she found herself submerged underneath the cold water; putting her body in shock for a few moments. Ana's first reaction was to spaz and flail her arms and legs like a frantic person would.